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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-29

Misc

Link Roundup

Misc

In an effort to make sure that both of my readers can’t possibly miss the things I think are important, I’m going to start doing a weekly roundup of the best of the internet.   Judged solely, and arbitrarily, by me.

On topic:

These, naturally, are the posts that fit the theme of this site.

How To Check Your Federal IRS Tax Refund Status. When I checked a couple of days ago, they were about 2 weeks out.

TurboTax has screwed up the property tax refund form for Minnesota.  Thankfully, I haven’t filed this, yet, but I did verify the problem.

Where do you want to be in 5 years? Start taking those steps, now, or you will never get there.   Find something, no matter how small, and do it.

Deficit Neutrality doesn’t count, if a massive initial purchase is offset by future intentions to cut spending.

Off topic:

This is just some of the random crap I think is worth sharing.

If you’re going to argue on the internet, make sure you have your sources right. Primary sources are better than secondary.

Bring back dueling to ensure good manners.

Here’s a guide to saving water-damaged books.

I am a shameless geek and reformed DnD player, so this room was exciting to see.

Iggy Azalea – Ghost Writer or Artist? Will it affect her bottom line?

Celebrities

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Iggy Azalea. Some of it has to do with her appearance and some of it has to do with her lyrics. There have been rumors in the rap industry that Iggy uses a ghost writer.

Iggy Azalea 15/15
Iggy Azalea 15/15 (Photo credit: Pompey_1Love)

Specifically, the accusation that her mentor T.I. has ghost wrote many of her songs. But does it matter?

Many people in the rap industry have ghostwriters. Kanye West started out as a ghostwriter. He wrote lyrics and music for many big stars. Neo is another artist that started out as a ghostwriter. This shows that there it’s not unusual. Dr.Dre has spoken about hiring people to write his songs. Ghostwriting is very popular in the Hip Hop community. Many of the most popular artists got their start writing lyrics or music for other singers. The only time it enters into the conversation is when artists get into feuds.

The newest accusation against Iggy comes from fellow female rapper Nicki Minaj. Nicki won an award at the BET awards and when she was accepting the award she insinuated that Iggy does not write her own material. This is publicity and will only help both rappers. Nicki is the top female rapper and she is taking notice of Iggy. It’s common in the Hip Hop world for competitors to get into public arguments. This dates back to the old East Coat v.s. West Coast rap feud. The good thing about this controversy is that neither Nicki or Iggy are gangster rappers so there won’t be any violence. Some rappers like The Game and 50 Cent and Nas and Jay Z used these feuds to become superstars.

This sort of controversy won’t hurt Iggy Azelea. Take Beyonce as an example of a successful artist who uses ghostwriters. No one cares that Beyonce doesn’t write her own songs. All people care about is if the song is good. As long as Iggy and her producers keep choosing good songs and making good music, then she is going to sell records. Her feud with Nicki is only going to add to her popularity. This type of feud helped other rappers such as Nas, JayZ, Eminem, and 50 Cent.

Related articles

Real Estate Customer Life Cycle

Finance, Misc

Recently, my wife and I have been searching for new tenants for our rental property.   That’s an irritating customer cycle.   We’ve had more no-shows at the showings than we’ve had prospects show up.   Most people who call seem to think that the rent on a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom house with a big yard and a 3 car garage 5 minutes from downtown Minneapolis is going to match their little subsidized Section 8 apartment.

Not going to happen.

So we keep looking.  In the meantime, it’s interesting to look at how a real estate trainer breaks down the life cycle of a customer.

Enjoy!

NEC Online Degrees

Business Failure: Learn From My Mistakes

Business

Business-center
Image via Wikipedia

I am a failure.

Ten years ago, I started a small web-design company with a friend.  I had a larger-than-average stack of geek points and the ability to build a decent website.

We lacked two things.

  1. Design talent. For me, design–whether graphic, web, or print–is a very iterative process.  I build something, even if it’s crap, and incrementally improve it into something good.   I understand the technical details of good design, but lack that particular creative spark.
  2. Sales skill. I’m an introvert.  As such, sales–particularly the act of initiating a sale–doesn’t come naturally to me.  I’m bad at cold-calling and door-knocking.  This was supposed to be my partner’s responsibility.  As it turns out, his main talent was convincing me that he had one.

In short, we were trying to launch a tech company on a shoestring budget with nothing but technical skill.

The missing elements doomed us.  We never had more than a couple of customers and eventually surrendered to the inevitable.

Ah, well.  My investment was time.

The time investment came with some valuable lessons.

  • Get complementary talent.  You have weaknesses.  Find partners who are strong where you are weak and weak where you are strong.   That guarantees every will realize actual value in the partnership.  The whole will be greater than merely the sum of its parts.
  • Hire the skills you need. Make an honest assessment of your talents and skills.  Do the same for your partners.   If that talent pool is lacking something you need, buy it.  If you need a graphic designer, a writer, or a marketer, spend the money to get it.    If you lack something truly necessary, your business will stagnate.
  • Learn the skills you need. Sales is a learnable skill.  So is almost everything else.   Even if you lack the talent and won’t be doing the work, you need to have a solid understanding of the skills necessary to run your business.   Fluency isn’t necessary, but understanding is.   Learn about the principles of good design,  the art of cold-calling, and whatever else you are going to be relying on others to handle.

 

Starting a business can be rewarding, both emotionally and financially.  I’ve never let myself be limited to just one income stream, but I try not to let my emotional investment cloud my judgment.   Do things right and you’ll stand a better chance of making your business a success.

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